Act Two
by land law is for losers
Summary: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth" was always one of Shikamaru's favourite sayings. With Sasuke down and feverish from the Cursed Seal, Naruto and Sakura plot about the improbable. Team 7 Time Travel.
1. Prologue

**Act Two**

When Naruto wakes up, he is being held up against a very tall tree by a large snake. When Sakura wakes up, she is on her knees, in the mud, and she is watching a long-dead Orochimaru race towards her wide-eyed teammate. When Sasuke wakes up, he feels teeth bury into his shoulder, and burning hot pain coursing through his veins.

For shinobi of their ranking, instinct is swift, and it doesn't take long to retaliate. The hold upon Naruto is loosened by the appearance of about fifty Shadow Clones, and Naruto bursts out and runs along the length of the snake, finally reaching its head and placing about a dozen exploding tags on top of the scaly skin. With a jump and a handsign, the tags explode and Naruto escapes unharmed, if slightly sticky from the residual snake bits flying at his rapidly disappearing form.

Sakura quickly stands up and pulls out a kunai, running towards the Snake Sannin and aiming towards his exposed, extended neck. Her intention is not to stab, but to cut cleanly across, and then run her hands on the exposed flesh and cauterize it with an expert medical jutsu. When Naruto's exploding tags go off, the backlash slams into her, and although she is prepared to change her course, her kunai misses by a millimetre. Only the medical jutsu connects, leaving Orochimaru with a couple of fairly nasty third degree burns.

Sasuke is immobilised. Unlike Naruto, he cannot form a hundred Shadow Clones and overwhelm his opponent. And besides, this scene is one which often brings him nightmares. Orochimaru's long, dark hair is in his face, and Sasuke can _smell_ the Sannin's scent and can feel his elongated teeth biting into his shoulder. Sasuke's mind draws a blank.

It is then that Sakura's cauterizing jutsu registers to Orochimaru, and reflexively the Sannin's neck shies away from the painful contact, the movement causing his fangs to jostle in Sasuke's muscle.

This fresh wave of pain, as well as the sight of that very familiar shade of pink that belongs to his wife's head, jostles Sasuke out of his shock. The Uchiha quickly gets angry at himself, then, and his red eyes mutate into something much more dangerous. With Mangekyou Sharingan active, Sasuke calls upon Amaterasu and aims for Orochimaru's ear. The black flames catch quickly and painfully and, almost panicked, Orochimaru hastily pulls away from the teenager's neck to quickly try and put out the dark fire.

Upon the realisation that they are not normal flames, Orochimaru quickly pulls out a kunai and cuts his own ear off, before the flames can catch onto his hair or the rest of him. For all the benefits of Amaterasu, the flame is slow-burning, and Orochimaru uses that disadvantage to separate himself from the fire. Seeing that the Sannin has escaped his technique, Sasuke allows the Mangekyou to fade out, and with it Amaterasu. The damage is already done, though, as blood is flowing down Sasuke's dirtied cheek and his left eye hurts.

Now, Orochimaru is assessing him curiously, cautiously, although he has already marked Sasuke. When Sakura and Naruto both appear behind their teammate, both placing reassuring hands on the Uchiha's shoulders, Orochimaru smirks and steps back into the shadow, without a word.

When the three can no longer sense the Sannin's chakra, they turn towards each other. It is then that the increasing pain finally catches up to Sasuke, when his adrenaline is running low, and he stumbles. Sakura and Naruto both catch him, and Sasuke gives a low whine of pain, sounding slightly like an injured dog. Sakura brushes a healing hand on his shoulder and the two punctures where Orochimaru bit him quickly heal. She cannot stop Orochimaru's venom but she will hasten the procedure as much as can without injuring Sasuke.

Without speaking, Naruto and Sakura carry Sasuke towards a large tree and hide in the elevated roots, until they can figure out what has happened to them.

x

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth" was always one of Shikamaru's favourite sayings. So the conscious members of Team 7 did just that. Possibility by possibility, they debunked it in low, soft tones, and remained with the improbable.

Time travel, is, theoretically, possible. Some say that the Sage of Six Paths managed just that and returned to his starting point, having learnt from his mistakes, and avoided them a second time.

To Naruto and Sakura, this second chance means nothing. The war was long over. They hadn't lost. They were happy – Naruto was Hokage-in-training and was married to the girl who had always adored him, and Sakura was the Head Medic at the hospital. She was married to the boy she'd had the silliest crush on, crush which had evolved into a burning passion. Their lives were good. They did not need to travel back in time.

Regardless, they did. And, thus, the two decided to plan until Sasuke awoke.

x

"We'd need to find him first," is what Sasuke hears when he wakes up. Naruto sounds frustrated. "We can't do anything about him until he actively starts moving pieces on the board."

A hand smooths over Sasuke's forehead in a gentle manner. "We can tackle things as they come," Sakura says thoughtfully. "We already know how to defeat him. If we just take care along the way, we can save countless lives, as well."

"How do we explain our Jutsu?" Naruto demands impatiently. "If I try and explain Kurama to anyone in this time, they'll think the seal is leaking and tighten it, or, worse, they'll think I'm turning into the Kyuubi myself. Not to mention Sage Mode. Or the Rasengan. Or the _Rasenshurkien_ – "

"Don't forget my Jutsu, Naruto," Sakura replies acidly. "Sakura Haruno of this time can hardly be expected to be a master medic nin, or to have monstrous power, or to have Tsunade-sama's infamous seal on top of her forehead!"

Sasuke's eyelids are crusty. He struggles to open them. Sakura notices, and gently rubs a wet piece of cloth to his face. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun," she says, helping him sit up. "How do you feel?"

Sasuke blinks and, unconsciously, a hand rises to rub at his shoulder. "Like I've been hit by a train," he deadpans, then winces as the curse mark sends a jolt of pain throughout his body. "I've forgotten how unstable this thing used to be," he remarks dryly.

Sakura and Naruto frown. "What do you mean?" Sakura asks, medic's curiosity lacing her tone.

"I feel like I should go kill something," Sasuke replies levelly. At his two teammates' tensing, he offers a dry chuckle. "Don't worry – I've had enough of these urges to learn _not_ to give into them. Relax."

It's just then that Sasuke registers where he is and what had just happened. He looks at his two friends and, for a second, cannot for the life of him figure out why they look so familiar but so very odd. It is only when he spots his wife's long hair that he realises all is not right.

"Sakura, Dobe – why the _fuck_ do you look twelve?"


	2. A Walk in the Forest

**Chapter 1**

 **A Walk in the Forest and a Punch to the Face**

With Sasuke awake, Sakura managed to do a quick scan of his vitals and announced that although he'd just had Orochimaru's teeth giving him a hickey, he looks good and running at optimal performance. In the meantime, Naruto gave Sasuke a quick rundown of what they thought was happening – namely, they had somehow travelled back in time during their Chuunin Exams, just in time for the Snake Sannin to mark his true target's little brother with the mind-altering Cursed Seal.

"Did you even _try_ seeing if we have been placed in a genjutsu?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sakura glared at him. "Naruto might be an idiot, but he _is_ almost a Hokage. And I'm not that stupid either. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke shrugged. "It's just – this seems rather farfetched. I barely remember what's happened here, it's been, what? Five, six years?"

"'Bout that, yeah," Naruto agreed, crossing his arms. "But we have checked for a genjutsu, and it's not even a Sharingan-based one, before you can ask. It's improbable, but we might actually just be in the past."

Sasuke grunted and frowned. "Then I'd imagine you will want to take advantage of this opportunity."

"Wouldn't you?" Sakura asked softly.

"There's nothing for me to save," Sasuke pointed out. "My family's already dead, although I suppose I could claim vengeance against Danzo."

"No attacking the Council," Sakura chided.

"Yet," Naruto grinned. "Danzo's an asshole, anyway."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "But aren't you forgetting something, Sasuke-kun?"

He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her in response. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Jeez, you _are_ just as stupid as Naruto sometimes. Your brother! He's still alive!"

Sasuke froze entirely as the repercussions of that fact sunk in while Naruto just pouted at Sakura for being called stupid. She gave him a chakra-free flick on the head.

"Yeah, bastard, can't believe you didn't figure it out," Naruto told Sasuke amusedly, rubbing a soothing hand over his forehead. "We can, like, totally get your brother on our side! We can always use you as bait, as well, to lure him somewhere to save your ass so we can talk to him!"

"Stupid," Sasuke sighed, " _shut up_."

Naruto did but a stupid grin was still on his face. Sakura smiled at the two of them and kneeled next to Sasuke and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Think about it. It won't be the family you miss so much, but it will be your brother."

Closing his eyes, Sasuke replied, "I'd have to do a complete one-eighty with what people today believe my personality is."

"Oh, yeah, you were pretty adamant with that 'lone avenger' thing back in the day," Naruto said thoughtfully.

"And _you_ were shouting to the skies that you will _become Hokage, believe it!_ " Sasuke replied bitingly.

"And _I_ was an obsessed fangirl," Sakura said sarcastically.

"Still are, if you ask me," Sasuke mumbled. Sakura slapped him on the back of the neck.

"Be glad that wasn't chakra-enhanced, _Sasuke-kun_ ," she replied warningly.

"Please stop flirting," Naruto groaned, "you guys are still here together and Hinata-chan isn't and I'm not about to go after her _now_ like some sort of creepy, weird, time traveling pedophile!" A thought occurred to him. "Oh, _god_ , _I'm going to die alone!_ "

A quick kick from Sasuke calmed Naruto down. "Relax, dobe. Even so, it's only five years difference. As long as you don't start preying on her now you should be fine. Just keep being your stupid, oblivious self and let her grow up, and by the time she's twenty we should be mentally twenty-five so that's fine."

"But it would be like cheating on my Hinata-chan with another Hinata-chan and it's creeping me out," Naruto confessed.

Sasuke shook his head. "Dobe, I swear, trying to comfort you is like trying to hold onto a wet and panicked cat."

"You're not good at comforting people anyway, Sasuke-kun," Sakura supplied, "so maybe just quit while you're ahead."

Seeing that Naruto was still pouting and unable to do anything about it, both Sakura and Sasuke quickly began talking about their next move and how they were going to play their sudden knowledge and skills off.

"I vote staying low until the prelims are over," Sakura said, "and then slowly phase our skills in?"

"I agree," Sasuke said darkly, "I don't want anyone… untoward, finding out about any of my jutsu until I want them to know."

"I want to beat Kakashi-sensei to the Hokage mantle!" Naruto said determinedly.

"I'm sure he wouldn't complain about it," Sakura replied matter-of-factly. "I swear that man can be lazier than Shikamaru at times."

Naruto sniggered. "That's great news for me, then!" 

"Anyway," Sasuke interjected, looking at the lightening sky. "We should probably get a move on. We still need a Heaven Scroll to finish this dumb exam and I have a feeling there are people out there out to get us."

"Not that it will be much of a problem," Sakura said, "but let's try to not kill them."

X

It didn't take long for them to find trouble. Or rather, trouble found them as their unhidden chakra signatures were distinctive from the others in the forest. Orochimaru clearly hadn't had enough of Team 7 because he sent his own team, Team Dosu, to go after Sasuke.

The fight didn't even last for a minute. Sasuke quickly dispatched of Zaku, pocketing the scroll he was carrying in the process, Sakura took care of Kin with a well-placed punch to the face before the Sound kunoichi could begin any of her attacks, and Naruto lunged after Dosu with speed that would have made Kakashi-sensei proud. By that point, Sakura could sense Team 10 about to stumble upon the scene, so she and her team quickly jumped into the trees before their fellow Konoha nin could spot anything amiss about them, leaving Team Dosu tied together to a tree.

Their trip to the tower was mostly uneventful; they bypassed a shoddily-placed genjutsu and tracked it back to a team from Amegakure, making quick work of them as well – they didn't want more teams than necessary present at the preliminaries, so they wouldn't be taking any chances.

Team 7's break after the Cursed Seal was placed on Sasuke ensured that they only arrived at the tower on the final day of the exam, but even then they still had enough time to get refreshed. All three took showers and had a bite to eat, so when they were recalled in the large arena they felt more like themselves.

X

The preliminaries were about what they remembered they would be. Kabuto withdrew as soon as he could, citing ill-health, and the twenty Genin left would be matched up with each other in a fight that would last until someone gave in or was unable to continue fighting.

The first fight was between Sasuke and a plant by the name of Yoroi Akado. As Sasuke went to jump onto the floor below, Kakashi's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Turning around inquisitively at his teacher, he was faced with a frowning Kakashi.

"Be careful, Sasuke," the Copy-nin warned. "If that seal on your neck starts acting up, I'm going to have to intervene and stop the match to stop it." He smiled. "Just warning you."

Taking heed of Kakashi's words, Sasuke avoided using his chakra as the Seal would respond to it immediately. He jumped down from the balcony and landed in front of his sunglasses-wearing opponent, face blank.

"The first match," Hayate Gekko announced, coughing once, "is between Uchiha Sasuke of Konoha and Yoroi Akado of Konoha. Are there any objections?"

"No," Yoroi said, tilting his head. "Unless this little kid has something to say."

Sasuke smirked. "None here." At the base of his neck, his Seal twinged, as if in agreement. Sasuke knew that Orochimaru was on the balcony, watching.

Hayate shrugged. "Alright then. Match begin."

Without hesitation, Yoroi moved quicker anyone could see. Luckily for him, Sasuke was not just anyone, and years of training his speed had enabled his vision to work better even without the aid of the Sharingan. When Yoroi's chakra-covered hand made to connect with his head, Sasuke jumped sideways and provided a hard kick to the man's unprotected side. Yoroi grunted and jumped backwards, stopping the flow of chakra to his hand and assessing Sasuke thoughtfully.

"You're faster than I anticipated," he admitted. "But not fast enough."

Yoroi's clone was behind him, suddenly, but Sasuke was unconcerned. He had sensed it the second it had been made and so was prepared when it struck him at the junction between the neck and the shoulders, where there was not only a bundle of nerves, but also the already painful curse mark. Yoroi was, no doubt, expecting him to fall to his knees where he could grab a hold of the dark-haired Genin's chakra and _pull_.

Unfortunately for him, Sasuke was both faster and smarter than he had expected. The boy kicked backwards the second Yoroi's strike hit and the powerful kick launched Yoroi's clone backwards, causing it to dispel. The real Yoroi took Sasuke's momentary distraction as an opportunity to attack, but before he could really do anything, the Uchiha grabbed a hold of him and jumped high in the air, letting go of him when the momentum began running out and brought his right leg down in a painful strike against Yoroi's stomach. The other Genin blocked his move, and shouted out, "You're no match for me!"

Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's leg in retaliation and almost by instinct, Sasuke's Sharingan flashed. The small draw on his chakra caused the cursed seal to activate and Sasuke briefly froze.

Below on the balcony, Naruto grabbed the metal railing and gripped it tight, looking at the expanding red seals across Sasuke's throat and face. Next to him, Sakura frowned, and Kakashi tensed, preparing himself to jump and interrupt the match. Naruto grabbed his sensei's arm and said, "Give him a chance, Kakashi-sensei! It's the teme. If anyone'll be able to beat this guy, it's him!"

"I'm not sure if Sasuke's usual tenacity will apply in this case," Kakashi replied lightly, "but I'll hold back for another minute." He gave a shake of his head to the proctor, Anko, and to the Hokage, and settled himself to watch for another minute.

Sakura nudged Naruto and pointed towards one of the Sound jounin sensei. Naruto nodded. The message had been received. _Orochimaru is watching_.

The expanding seals seemed to have momentarily crippled the Uchiha and Yoroi took full advantage of the situation, reversing their positions as they were falling towards the floor. His palms once again shone with the use of chakra and it was clear to all that he was meaning to suck Sasuke's chakra out of him.

So Naruto helped Sasuke how he knew best.

"Oi, teme!" Naruto shouted and Sakura did her best not to grin. "You look like a massive wimp!"

Sasuke twitched and grabbed Yoroi's arm, twisting it behind his body and pulling hard. The seals were visibly receding but Sasuke's eyes stayed red.

The two Genin crash landed and slid apart from one another. Yoroi was panting heavily but Sasuke was standing upright, visibly tense.

"What's wrong, little boy?" Yoroi goaded. "A little pain too much for you?"

Sasuke's head snapped forwards and Yoroi could see two black tomoe swirling lazily in Sasuke's red eyes.

"There are some who think they can control me," Sasuke said blandly, eyes flickering momentarily to an average-looking Sound nin. "Those people are mistaken. I am an Uchiha."

With those words Sasuke vanished and appeared behind Yoroi. His right hand grabbed the back of Yoroi's neck and his left grabbed his upper right leg. With little effort, Sasuke pulled and Yoroi was twisted in midair. While his enemy was upside down, Sasuke grabbed his legs and jumped again, this time with a precise control over his own body and chakra. A few moments passed while they were suspended in mid-air and all was quiet in the arena.

Then Sasuke chuckled and his Sharingan turned off. "Turns out I don't need the extra help to defeat you, after all."

With those words, the two started spiraling down and gaining speed with each inch travelled. When they landed they created a huge plume of dust out of which only Sasuke made it out. As it receded, all could see the collapsed figure of Yoroi Akado. After a few seconds, the proctor cleared his throat and said, "Winner: Uchiha Sasuke."

X

 **Note** : At his original battle with Yoroi, Sasuke couldn't use any of his chakra lest the Cursed Seal activated. It activated regardless. I'm thinking with Sasuke's increased experience and chakra control it wouldn't have activated without reason to, thus the Sharingan flashing on. Now on the wikia it clearly states that the seal draws on chakra flow – but Sasuke's since learned to control it. This is why he managed to push back the seal and finish the fight.

Additionally, the reason why Sasuke only has two tomoe will be revealed next chapter. It's not some big cliffhanger, but I know people will question it when we've already seen that he has the Mangekyo.


End file.
